You had all been working hard in preparation of your first mission: Rebuilding the north roads towards Iuz for the Queen of the Shield Lands, whose infrastructure thad taken a beating from the repeated assembled hordes incursions.

Unfortunately your short,stubby carriage was stopped for the night when it was descended upon by what must have been a hungry, mated pair of Ankhegs. The foul mantis like burrowing insect beasts ate the four horses and dissolved all four of your chaperones with their deadly & acidy vomit.

After fleeing the carnage and hiding in some trees overnight, your group snuck back to the now ruined carriage, and procured the remaining salvageable gear and food stuffs that remained. You found the hideous looking yet well appointed & powerful looking [[Cleric-Noble Blozar]] and his entourage at the scene. His heavily armed and well feathered entourage reading through what must be your working papers.

Blozar explains that he was contacted about something amiss from a scrying tool, and being affiliated with the various citystates of the area took the consignment to deliver you to a new contract in the vicinity of the City of Greyhawk.

A quick transport landed you in a strange weathered fortified structure of three buildings- two towers, a large “mall” within a earthern rampart 10 leagues in circumference. Armed men stood along the rampart at 100’ apart , and a dozen vagabond halfling theives quickly set upon you. Blozar stepped in before you were picked clean and escorted you into Herzog’s stronghold.

Once in Herzogs’s tower, you were treated to a feast of unparallelled generosity. Your group marveled at the imbued richness and sturdy generic details which made this well appointed outpost the wonder that it is.
Herzog explained that he needed fresh recruits off the main adventuring scene to map the dungeon levels definitively, and for each level well mapped he would pay 1,000 GP. Of course the level mapped has to be a certain size, and you will be thoroughly scryed for truthfulness etc etc. Your pedigree and experience level seem perfect for the job.
The gorgeous princess Princess Rissotta also made an appearance stirring the heartstrings of the eager-but-as-yet uninstrumented bard Flueder Flam- Her majestic body and somewhat endearingly irregular nose & angular features conveyed such a mystifying spell of unique beauty he fell quickly in her thrall.

Later you were shown to room, a large barracks like dormitory on the third floor-and you realized that your neighbors were a strange and unfriendly crew of adventurers themselves: a Badger magic user, a Centaur rogue and a Druid. They gave you the stink-eye fierce, and thwarted your attempts to spy on them.
After resting up, Seven of your group ventured through the towns building and main markets, and you were solicited for aid by the scamp named Culum the Scallywag A brief glimpse of your dormitory rivals was seen.

He explained his father was taken away out of his shoppe by terrible somethings or others, you needed to help rescue him desparately! He led you to a boarded up merchant shoppe and in the basement you found a well appointed brew pub, and signage that indicated a crude “zoo” of sorts. After searching through a series of rooms and tunnels you encountered a number of strange creatures, not all of them friendly. Shaloub the used his nunchaku to obliterate a small gang of goblins, and your party eliminated all routes but one. After one happy go lucky explorer was eaten by the hydra lurking in the cesspool, It was time to rest.
Some of you wandered back off into town, a few stayed to keep watch. See FIRE DOWN BELOW in the Adventure Log.